Cable-grip



(No Model.)

' A; 0. BABENDREIBR 82; F P. DAVIEL' CABLE GRIP.

Patented Feb. 14, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.-

ARTHUR O. BABENDREIER AND FRANK PARKER DAVIS, OF BALTIMORE, ASSIGNORS OFONE-HALF TO JOHN E. NORWOOD, OF SYKESVILLE,

MARYLAND.

' CABLE-G RIP.

SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent N0. 491,934, dated February14, 1893. Application filed December 20, 1892. Serial No- 455,812. (Nomodel.)

of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in

the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Cable-Grips,

' of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide practical means forautomatically releasing a cable-grip at crossings and other places whereit is necessary to drop the cable.

The invention is specially adapted to the well-known style of grip inwhich a plate slides between two rigid legs, the two jaws or grip-barsbeing carried by the said sliding plate and rigid legs, respectively;and our aim is to convert this style of grip into anautomatically-releasing grip without making any.

radical change in the construction which would require rebuilding thegrip; any grip of this style may be readily'altered and made automaticby applying our invention thereto.

There are two forms of the style of grip above mentioned, in one ofwhich the upper jaw is movable and the lower jaw stationary, and in theother of which the lower jaw is movable and the upper one rigid. Ourinvention is equally adapted to either form, and also to various otherforms of grips.

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated our invention appliedto that style above-mentioned in which the upper jaw is the movable one.

Figure 1 shows a side view of the grip represented as in its fullgripping position; Fig. 2 shows a top-view taken substantially on thesection line 2-2 of Fig. 1,-the section being taken through thelink-bearing on one side. Referring to the construction here shown forcarrying out our invention, the letter, A, designates two rigid legswhich are connected at their upper ends by girders, B, and carry theunder jaw or grip-bar, G, at their lower ends. A plate, D, is fitted toslide between the two legs, A, and this plate carries the upper jaw orgrip-bar, E, at its lower end, and extends up between the two girders,B. A frame, F, is fastened rigidly to this sliding plate, and has arack, a, along its top-bar, and

a controlling-lever, G, is pivoted at the lowerend, g, to the saidsliding plate, and has a pawl, 19, to engage said rack.

' The letter, B, designates supports on the car-truck, which hold thegrip.

In carrying out our invention we substitute for the links whichordinarily connect the controlling lever and the girders joining therigid legs, links, H, of special formation. Theselinks are pivoted asusual to the lever at the point, 'i, but each is formed with anenlargement, H, at its lower end, to allow for an angle-slot, I, whichreceives a fulcrum-pin, J, extending transversely through the girders,B. Aroller, K, is mounted on this pin to engage the sides of the slotand this roller has a back flange, c, fitting against the girder, andextending over the inner face of the link; a washer, d, fits on thepivot-pin on the outer side of the roller and extends over the outerface of the link. The angle-slot, I, above mentioned, has asubstantially horizontal part, e, with a rounded end, which part formsan opening for the roller, K, to bear in during the ordinary working ofthe grip, and an angular downward extension, f, of the said opening, topermit an elongation of the connection for the purposes of the.automatic release. It will now be obvious that with this constructionit is only necessary to shift the link to a position where the roller,K, may occupy the angular extension, f, of the slot, in order to releasethe grip from the cable. The means here shown for accomplishing thispurpose maybe described as follows; An angle-lever, L, having a shortarm, j, and a long arm, 10, is pivoted at, l, to a bearing, M, which isbolted to one of the rigid legs, A, of the grip. The short arm, j, ofthis lever extends outward from the grip while the long arm, is, extendsupward and a link, N, connects it with an ear, m, formed on the enlargedlower end of the main link, H, said connecting link being fulcrumed tothe two parts which it joins. This construction is provided on bothsides of the grip and the two angle-levers are both pivoted to thebearing, M, while a single roller,

IOO

ever the cable is to be dropped a doublein'clined rise, P, will beprovided on each slot-rail, and will be of sufficient length to insurethe action of the trip-levers.

The operation will be apparent and will be briefly stated as follows:The roller, R, rides up the inclined rise, P, and the consequent upwardmovement of the short armsj, of the trip-lovers, moves the long arms,7c, of said levers and shifts the main links, H, through the connectinglinks, N, to a position where the rollers on the pivot-pin, J, are overthe angular extension of the slots in said main links, and the said mainlinks are free to move upward and remove the pressure from the cable,and the latter may easily leave the grip. Thus should the gripmanneglect to throw the controlling lever to the release position the gripwill release automatically, and entirely independent of the controllinglever. The automatic trip is operative with the car moving in eitherdirection, the roller riding up on one side or the other of thedouble-inclined track-rise. The pressure of the lower sides of thehorizontal parts of the slots against the rollers tends to maintain thenon mal relation, with the said rollers in the rounded ends of the saidhorizontal parts of the slots, as does also the tendency of the links toassume a vertical position pendent from their pivotal points ofattachment to the controlling lever, and the Weight of the sliding plateand parts connected therewith. But to insure that the rollers remain inthe ends of the slots during the usual operation of the grip, springs,Q,connect the lower ends of the main links and the girders, and act tohold the parts in their normal relation. The gripmans lever is not inany way affected by the automatic releasing devices and the grip will beoperated the same as usual. If the gripman releases at the proper time,the links will be simply moved over by the trip-levers, and return againto the normal position without moving upward, as the limit of movementis already reached by throwing the controlling lever to the full releaseposition. It will be seen that a slight movement of the short arms ofthe trip-levers is multiplied in the long arms, 71?, so that therequired movement of the main links may be obtained by a comparativelyslight movement of the short arms of the trip-levers, and hence theinclined rise in the track need not stand very high. The roller, R, hastwo peripheral bearing surfaces one for each inclined rise, 1, with agroove, 0, between, to allow for wear of the said surfaces. Thetrip-levers are very slightly affected by the ordinary working of thegrip, as most of their motion is taken up by the links, N, which connectthem with the said trip-levers.

It is obvious that other mechanism may be employed to shift the mainlinks for the automatic release.

Our automatic release construction as here described is equallyapplicable to a grip in which the lower jaw is the movable one, and alsoto many other forms of grips.

The essential feature of the invention is the opening with the angularextension; that is to say, a slot one part of which is farther from thefulcrum of the grip-member having such slot, than another part of theslot, whereby an automatic elongation of the connection will be efiectedindependently of the controlling lever. This angular slot may be in anymember of the grip where it will serve its purpose, and may have variousshapes.

Having thus described our invention, what We claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a cable-grip, the combination of a member thereof having anopening with an angular extension; and a member having a part whichengages said opening and may occupy the angular extension thereof torelease the grip from the cable independently of the controlling memberof the grip.

2. In a cable grip, the combination of a controlling lever; a linkconnecting said lever with one member of the grip and provided with anopening receiving a fulcrum on said grip-member,--said opening having anangular extension; and an automatic trip for moving the link to aposition where the said fulcrum may occupy the said extension of theopening, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a cable grip, the combination of astationary member; a movablemember; a controlling lever pivoted to the movable member; a linkfulcrumed to said lever and to the stationary member and having anopening receiving one fulcrum and provided with an angular extension;and an automatic trip for moving the link to a position where the saidfulcrum may occupy the angular extension of said opening, for thepurpose described.

t. In a cable grip, the combination of a stationary member; a movablemember; a controlling lever pivoted to the movable member; a linkfulcrumed to said lever and to the stationary member and having anopening receiving the fulcrum on the stationary part and provided withan angular extension; and an automatic trip for moving the link to aposition where the said fulcrum may occupy the angular extension of saidopening, for the purpose described.

5. In a cable grip, the combination of a controlling lever; a linkconnecting said lever with one member of the grip and provided with anopening receiving a fulcrum on said grip-member,-said opening having anangular extension; an angle-trip-lever arranged to encounter a rise inthe track; and a suitable connection between said lever and the link,whereby the'latter may be moved to a position in which the said fulcrummay occupy the extension of the opening.

6. In a cable grip, the combination of a con trolling lover; a pair oflinks connecting said lever and one member of the grip and each linkhaving an opening which receives a fulcrum on said grip-member, and isprovided with an angular extension; angle-trip-levers carrying a rollerbetween them arranged to encounter a rise in the track; and suitableconnections between the said trip-levers and the links whereby thelatter may be moved to a position where the fulcrum may occupy theextensions of the openings, for the pur- 1o pose described.

In testimony whereof We affix our signatures in the presence of twowitnesses.

ARTHUR O. BABENDREIER. FRANK PARKER DAVIS.

Witnesses:

G. A. BOYDEN, JNo. T. MADDOX.

